Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Jason was dressed in his practice gear as he stood face to face with his toughest competition that he had ever faced.

Standing at 6'7 (2m) tall with a head of colorfully dyed short hair his opponent was dressed in a white Bull's jersey.

Jason gulped 'No fucking way.... Is that who I think it is?' But no matter how hard Jason rubbed his eyes what he saw didn't change.

What stood in front of him was a man that was said to be one of the most tenacious rebounder and defender to have ever played the game.

A man who managed to make the All Star team just off of his defense and rebounding alone, as well as win Defensive Player of the Year all in the same season.

A man who would lead the league multiple times in rebounding as well as multiple time champion and Hall of Famer, Dennis Rodman.

Jason was still standing there in disbelief when Dennis Rodman pointed at him "Get your ass over here and get to work."

He still wasn't a hundred percent sure of what was going on but he walked over to where Rodman was standing.

"Listen up small stacks, rebounding is a fight. A fight between you and the opposing player that decides who gets the ball.

Some people think that the fight starts when the ball comes off the rim. But the real fight starts when the ball leaves the shooter's hands.

You have to be able to box out and react as soon as you see the ball moving through the air. So that's where we'll start."

Jason and Rodman were both standing just above the free throw line. Dennis Rodman had a basketball in his hand that he then shot toward the basket.

Jason had thought that he had reacted pretty quickly but before his foot could even finish hitting the ground Rodman had already fronted him and boxed him out.

He tried everything that he could from swim moves, misdirection, and spin moves, but no matter what he did he just couldn't get past Rodman.

A moment later and Rodman had easily gotten the rebound off of his own missed shot. As he held the ball up in one hand he turned to Jason and scoffed "Were you even trying?

When it comes to defense and rebounding those are the only parts of the game where effort and heart matter more than talent.

So are you going to show me something or not?" Hearing what Dennis Rodman had just said to him the competitive fire inside of him was beginning to burn brighter.

Jason clapped both of his hands together "Let's do this shit!" 'I don't know about anything else but if it's heart and effort those are the two areas where I know I'm at the top.'

And so began the impossible challenge of trying to beat Dennis Rodman in a rebounding battle. Jason knew that realistically speaking there was no way he could beat a Hall of Famer like Rodman in the area that he specialized in.

But his brain seemed to be having a problem relaying that message to his heart because every loss that he took only worked to pump him up more.

Without Jason even realizing it time began to pass him by. At this moment the only thing that was on his mind was beating Rodman.

Round after round Jason was beat by Rodman as he effortlessly caught his own rebounds with just a single hand.

Eventually Jason found himself laying on the floor. His breathing was fast and rough as he laid in a pool of his own sweat.

He could feel his heartbeat throughout his whole body. Every breath was a struggle and an unbearable heat was pulsing through him.

Jason felt so weak that he couldn't even push himself to sit up on the floor. As he laid on the floor struggling to breathe he couldn't help but glance at Rodman.

Dennis Rodman stood there silently seemingly unconcerned about Jason 'Damn, and I thought that I had a hell of a motor.

I guess all the stories about Dennis Rodman being one hell of a natural born athlete were all true. They said that he used to get a full workout done on the bikes after every game. 

So this is what it takes to be able to dominate at the top level huh? No wonder Rodman was able to carve out such a successful career with just his defense and rebounding.

If you can do those two things at such an elite level I guess it doesn't matter that he doesn't really have much of an offense.'

Jason closed his eyes as a wave of exhaustion swept over him. But when he opened his eyes instead of the floor of a court he was laying in his bed.

All of the fatigue and soreness that he had felt just moments ago from when he was facing off against Rodman were now gone.

His whole body felt comfortable as he stretched and yawned 'I guess last night's rewards were pretty good after all.'

Because of the PED suspicions that were still on Jason, last night no one had been in the mood to celebrate despite having just won the county title. 

So after going straight home Jason had checked the rewards that the system had given him for clearing the knots in Donte's heart.

Included in the rewards was a new function for the system.

[Training Simulation Function. Allows the user to utilize the Legend Cards in his possession by creating a copy of the player to guide the user in Simulated training sessions held while the user's physical body is in a state of sleep.

Price per night of training is 25 Body Modification Points. Training sessions last for as long as the host is able to continue. As soon as the host has reached their limit they will awaken in reality.]

Along with unlocking a new function of the system Jason had also earned a free Legends Pack. It looked like a pack of collectible trading cards.

When Jason had opened the pack last night he was in a state of frenzied excitement 'Please! Give me a copy of 02 Kobe, or maybe 14 LeBron, 93 Jordan would be perfect too!'

But when the glowing light finally dimmed down enough for Jason to open his eyes the card that he saw floating in front of him was somewhat disappointing.

It was the size of a normal collectible trading card and it was glowing with a purple hue surrounding every inch of the card.

The image on the card was a picture of Dennis Rodman tipping the offensive rebound away from the opposing player.

For his very first Legends Card Jason had picked up a copy of 97 Rodman. Along with the new system function, and free Legendary Pack, Jason also earned 500 Body Modification Points.

As Jason sat on the edge of his bed he thought about how to spend his Body Modification Points. Adding the points that he earned last night he currently had 2,000 points.

So far he had been investing most of his points towards his wingspan, and hand size. The rest of his points he invested in his height.

The only problem was now that his wingspan and hand size were now both A- rank the points that were needed to keep improving were astronomical.

So far Jason had invested a thousand points each into his hand size and wingspan and they were still at the A- rank.

'Let's see just how many points I need to get you guys to a solid A.'

Jason wasn't worried at first but as he kept pouring more and more of his points into hand size without the rank improving sweat began to form on his forehead.

'400... 600... 800... You have got to be kidding me. How many points do you need just to go up from an A- to an A?'

Finally after putting in a thousand Body Modification Points into his hand size it increased from an A- to a solid A.

Jason fell back into his bed before sitting back up and wiping the sweat off of his face with the back of his hand.

"Damn, so if it took me 2,000 points to get my hand size from a A- to an A I'm guessing it's going to be the same for my wingspan."

And just as he had predicted it did take him another 1,000 points to boost his wingspan from an A- to a solid A.

[Hand Size: A

  Wingspan: A]

Jason was happy to finally see his two biggest weaknesses from his past life reach a level where they would no longer hold him back.

A bright smile was on his face as he sat on his bed 'Man, I can't believe that I don't have to worry about my hand size or wingspan anymore.

Well, at least not for the immediate future anyway. Those ranks should be good enough to hold me down for at least a year or two in high school.

If only the system could help me out with my physique. Now that my hand size and wingspan are both decent I would love to be able to put some points down for some muscle.'